Well somehow we find ourselves past a halfway point of October. It's been a lovely peaceful month so far. For many reasons I remain grateful to be where I am and not where I've been. As always, I've been reading. Here's what I've read in the first half of the month.
The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen (read on the Serial Reader app)
I was watching a booktube video a few weeks ago and the person said she was going to read this book in Victober (a booktube event in which people read Victorian literature in October). I was at the end of the Serial Reader book I was reading and remembered this book being on the list there. Also, since it's a Gothic novel, it seemed good for spooky season, so I selected it and started reading a little every day. It's a novella so not a long book. It's weird. The story is about a mad scientist sort of chap who has a friend come to watch an experiment in which he does something to the brain of a young woman he has raised for the purpose so she can 'see the great god Pan.' The friend, who is writing a book attempting to provide proof that Satan exists, reluctantly agrees to witness the experiment but is horrified at the resulting mental breakdown of the young woman, Mary. Nevertheless, he writes down what he sees. Then the story leaps forward to some disturbing experiences various people have when in the company of a woman called Helen Vaughan until it reaches the conclusion in which things are explained. Nothing is graphically described in the book, but rather implied. This didn't stop people from being scandalized in 1894 when it was published. I didn't love it and didn't hate it. It was OK.
The Nazi Conscience By Claudia Koonz (borrowed from the library)
I was
reading an article about the role of women in extremist right wing movements in which Koonz was quoted. I'd read her book about Nazi women, but I hadn't read this one, so I requested it from the library. It's an excellent book that explains how the Nazis--who were not that popular at first-- got people to gradually get used to and comfortable with the obscene and horrific ideas and actions that would follow. How did they use various aspects of culture to spread their vile ideas and make them not only palatable, but righteous? As Koonz says, "The road to Auschwitz was paved with righteousness." (p 3) She goes on to say, "In this book, I examine the incursion of a secular ethnic faith into an area of human life traditionally assigned to religion: the formation of a conscience." (p 3) She does this quite well, illustrating how this was done and what resulted from it. It's impossible to read today without applying her arguments to what's going on in various places in the world today. Of course, I am most familiar with the States (no point calling them 'united' states, which would be rather absurd) and it's particularly glaring there as the cult of the red hat follows the same basic playbook. It was interesting to be reminded of how the Nazis were inspired by the Jim Crow laws and other racial discrimination in the States and now we see the current regime in the States taking inspiration from the Nazis--a deplorable full circle of hate. I suppose authoritarians keep playing the same game over and over with culturally appropriate adaptations. And somehow people keep falling for this stuff over and over again or they think that what worked in other places won't work in their own country. It can happen anywhere and Claudia Koonz has done a fine job of showing us exactly how.
Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie (e-audiobook from BorrowBox)
A Shedunnit podcast episode several weeks ago was a deep dive into this book. When it came out, I thought I'd re-read it before listening to the pod. But then I remembered that BorrowBox had an audiobook read by Joan Hickson who is THE Miss Marple, so I decided to put myself in the queue for that and wait to listen to the pod after I'd listened to the audiobook. I loved it, although I did have to remind myself frequently that it was the vicar telling the story and not Miss Marple. Joan Hickson's voice is associated in my mind with Miss Marple so I kept hearing things from her point of view until something happened to remind me that it was the vicar. This is the first Miss Marple novel. Before this book she had always appeared in short stories. So in this book, readers are introduced to her village, St Mary Mead, and some of the characters that will appear in future Marple novels. We also get a sense of Jane Marple's understanding of the wickedness of humans and human nature. She is a realist, a woman with a sharp mind, and someone with great powers of observation. She is also dismissed as an annoying old busybody, which is actually helpful. Sometimes it's useful to be underestimated. When one of the church wardens is found dead in the vicar's office, suspects abound. There are mysterious newcomers to the village, interpersonal squabbles, and various people confessing. The police are baffled. The vicar is baffled. Miss Marple is not baffled. Eventually, the vicar admits Miss Marple isn't who he thought she was. The police just take credit for solving the mystery, but they'll meet Marple again.
Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse by Luke Kemp (borrowed from the library)
This is an outstanding book. Kemp begins by pointing out that human history is the story of power struggles, which he says can be categorized into four different types of state control: "control of decision-making, including by setting up a centralized government; control of the resources that others depend on, such as the wheat and rice that people eat every day; control through threats of violence; and control of information to understand and manipulate others, whether by a bureaucracy, a priesthood, or a big tech company." (p 1) He also points out that it depends on who is being controlled by the states--the size, skills, and health of the population under control matters. Every state throughout history has ended at some point, although not always in the form of collapse. Kemp is clear-eyed about what we call civilization really is. He (correctly, in my view) states that, "The problem is that most of us are uncomfortable in recognizing the most common element of civilization: rule through domination." (p 5)
So what does he mean by a Goliath? "A Goliath is a collection of hierarchies in which some individuals dominate others to control energy and labour." (p 5) Goliaths arose when human societies began organizing themselves much like our cousins, the chimpanzees do, featuring dominance hierarchies, social ranking, and violence. All Goliaths contain the seeds of their own destruction and collapse has repeatedly occurred, whether quickly and catastrophically or slowly and imperceptibly. Collapse doesn't necessarily mean the cultures and people who created the collapsed cultures disappear, but that societies are transformed into something different. Some societies are even better off after collapse. Kemp carefully and thoroughly lays out his arguments and the reasoning behind them. He draws on work from across many disciplines to explain our human evolutionary history which brought us to our present Global Goliath, why we're in danger of collapse from many different directions, and what we can do about it. The threats we face are multi-faceted and have to do with our own psychology, the fact that cultural evolution moves faster that biological evolution does, our destruction of our habitat, and more. The solutions he offers are probably good ones, but even he admits that they are highly unlikely to actually be implemented, humans being what we are. I loved this book. If it was mine, I would've had notes everywhere. It is a book about collapse and the possibility of the extinction of homo sapiens, but I found it oddly uplifting in it's directness. I do expect things to fall apart and I don't see any reason why our species of human would not go extinct and/or evolve. That's what has happened before when there were several human species wandering around the planet until only we were left. That doesn't mean we're invincible. We're another species on the planet and the only one who happens to have created systems and societies that aren't actually well adapted in the long run to the natural world in which we live. Natural disasters aren't the only reason for collapse. We humans are very creative and seem to be quite good at finding ways to harm ourselves. I highly recommend this fascinating and very accessible book.
The Christmas Egg by Mary Kelly (borrowed from the library)
This is a British Library Crime Classics publication. It was a strange book. I think it was described as unique. Indeed. An elderly Russian countess is found deceased in her dingy bed in her dingy flat. Jewels and other valuable items are missing. Where are they? Did she die of natural causes? Did someone kill her? An investigation ensues. This wasn't my favorite BLCC book by any means. I don't think I would seek out more by this author, although there's not much in this series to look for. I think this detective only appeared in three novels and then it was briefly mentioned in one of her other books that he'd died in a car crash. I didn't get a sense of who the detective was--the characterization wasn't great. Why his wife was even in the book I don't know. The book does take place at Christmastime, over three days. There's not much festive about it although there is lots of snow. Meh.
This book will be published in a few weeks:
Freezing Point by Anders Bodelsen, translated from Danish by Joan Tate (read via NetGalley-- to be published on November 6, 2025 by Faber)
January, 1973. Bruno is shaving when his razor meets a lump and he cuts himself. He realizes that he noticed the lump recently, but it's grown larger. He sees the doctor, who says there's probably nothing to worry about but wants to do tests. Turns out there is something to worry about. Bruno has an untreatable form of cancer. But the doctor has a proposition for Bruno. He could choose to be frozen until such time as a cure is found, which the doctor thinks will be in 10 or 15 years. Bruno has a few days to decide. At first he's not sure what to do, but he suddenly decides to do it and wants it done quickly. When he comes back to consciousness, it's 1995. His cancer is gone and he is physically healthy, but society has changed so much during the time he's been frozen that his problems are just beginning. It's not a matter of simply starting his life from where he left off but without being sick. The world is different and as Bruno learns bit by bit what it's like now, he quickly learns he doesn't like it. But he's owned by society now and what can he do about it?
This book, although written over half a century ago, has so many resonances with the world today. As I was reading I kept thinking about people who have plastic surgery over and over again to try to look young and the people who want to live forever in some form. These are not new ideas of course, just the methods change as the available technology changes. When Bruno is offered the choice between living out whatever time he has left and being frozen so he can wake up cancer-free and pick up his life where he left off, he doesn't really give it that much thought. Would it have mattered if he did? Could he have even imagined the kind of world he'd come back to? Would he have been able to grasp that his status as a 'guinea pig' for this technology would cost him something in the end? Would he have gotten to the point where he'd consider the difference between extending an existence indefinitely and living a life? Whether he would've gotten to these questions before he was frozen or not, he was certainly faced with them when he was brought back to consciousness.
The book is extremely well written. I was hooked from the very beginning. Bodelsen creates a cold atmosphere throughout. The book starts in January, so we're cold from the start. Bruno has a recurring thought/memory of a time when he went skating with friends and realized that he was on thin ice, which was cracking all around him as he desperately tried to get back to shore. He doesn't have any close relationships, and seems a bit detached from others. When he's brought back from his frozen state, the environment he's in is sterile and cold--not in terms of temperature, but in terms of human connection and warmth. As reality slowly dawns on him, he struggles to make sense of his situation and to change it. Does he succeed? I'll leave it to readers to find out for themselves. I thoroughly enjoyed this excellent book and highly recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley, and the publisher for a digital review copy.
I had one DNF so far this month, which was the book group book for the November meeting, which I will miss anyway. The book is A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. It didn't seem like my kind of book, but I took it and gave it a shot. I was right--it's not for me. I told myself I'd give it a hundred pages (my copy was over 800 pages long). I could barely drag myself through the first chapter, which ended on page 62. The meandering sentences and jumps from topic to topic drove me nuts. I clearly do not get on with Irving's writing style. I did not care about the characters. Some stuff just felt icky. I got to the end of chapter one with relief, put it on the return pile, and got it back to the library yesterday.
I hope you're having an excellent October so far with lots of good reading.
